A Konoha Ninja in the Big City
by namelessvagrant
Summary: I'm probably going to change the title. Anyway, this is a story of Naruto Uzumaki as his path crosses with Ranma Saotome and the people he meets along the way.
1. Default Chapter

Authors notes: Having trouble focusing on some other projects because of this idea, which has been getting seriously out of hand. I figure writing it down and posting it should keep my mind a bit more on track. Anyway, this is a crossover fic mainly between Ranma ½ and Naruto. Although some other series will show up more then likely Yu Yu Hakusho and Sailor Moon as they would notice a giant demonic presence in Tokyo...or at least I would hope so. Might throw in Inuyasha and Mamono hunter yoko for the same reason, or any other demon hunting group I can think of... All anime characters belong to their respected owners. Wait... let me repeat that....  
  
DISCLAIMER: All anime/mange characters belong to their respected owners.  
  
Yeah, that should do. On with the story. As a timeline note, this is before Ranma ½ starts and after the Zabusa/wave country story arc in Naruto.  
  
Chapter 1: Three weeks  
  
It had been three weeks since Naruto Uzumaki disappeared after finishing a relatively simple C rank bodyguard mission. There were quite a few people who were quietly celebrating the disappearance of the last traces of the Demon Fox from the village, however there were others who were more concerned over the idea that the Fox had run away from the village because it planned to attack it, not a very uncommon thing among missing nins. Only a handful of people were actually concerned over the whereabouts of the twelve year old Gennin that had disappeared. Kakashi sighed as he stared silently at the group picture of Team 7 he kept near his window. That was the unfortunate truth in the matter. Because of his past, very few were willing to help locate one missing twelve year old boy. Most of those who did help had been assigned to the task by the Hokage, who was one of the few outside of Team 7 that was concerned. From the pieces of information that had been gathered. Kakashi had a fairly good idea what had happened, but this didn't make the search any easier. After having escorted a client to a remote shipping village, he had let Team 7 wander the town. Seeing as how the ports only handled cheap foreign goods, and that travelers rarely came through these parts. The chances of running into trouble were highly unlikely. It wasn't all that surprising Naruto somehow managed to come across some. Exactly what happened was still a mystery, but somehow Naruto wound up in one of the outgoing cargo boxes, whether by choice or by force was still unknown. Kakashi had only figured this out after the ANBU recovered a Leaf head protector in a packaging crate. Since these protectors were a symbol of the village it wasn't likely one would just be lying around like the ANBU reported. The box that Naruto had been stuck in had traveled through sixteen different ports all across the world, and just to make things more complicated. Somewhere along the line, Naruto had obviously gotten off the boat. Kakashi sighed as his attention returned to the various shipping manifests that he had spent the last week paging through. None of this was going to help find Naruto. He sighed as he wondered where the boy was now.  
  
At that very moment, the boy in question was lying on his back in an open field hundreds of miles away. He was wearing his usual combination of orange jacket and pants. Although he lacked his kunai and shuriken holster as he had long lost what little he had originally had. He still kept one spare kunai in the pouch on his waist though. Since his head protector was lost he had gone back to the mask like goggles he had worn during his academy days, although he rarely wore them over his eyes. Staring up at a cloudless sky he wondered what everyone in Konoha was doing. So much had happened in the last three weeks that Naruto actually had had his fill with big adventures...for now. He wasn't quite sure how he ended up on a strange ship miles out to sea, but that was the start of the adventure, and things simply continued to get stranger from there. He had tried to reason with the sailors to take him back, but apparently they were speaking two completely different languages and Naruto wound up stranded in another port...

* * *

Cue Flashback Sequence

* * *

Naruto sighed as he sat on a crate in the port. He still didn't have a single idea how he was supposed to get back to Konoha. Nobody here at the shipping port seemed to know of the port that Naruto had come from, or of Konoha, and a lot of people laughed at him when he said he was a ninja. As frustrating as it was, Naruto had a more pressing problem to worry about. Money. Even if he did find a way back home, he'd probably have to pay for it, and at the moment he didn't have enough money to afford a night at the cheap hotel that was in this lousy town. If he'd known he be stuck in the middle of nowhere when he left Konoha he'd have brought his savings with him. He grumbled darkly as he watched the sun set. He didn't even have the pack he had taken with him on the mission, having left it at the hotel with Kakashi-sensei before leaving to explore the harbor town. Worse still his head protector had disappeared. This upset him more then being lost, as that head protector was more then just a symbol of being a ninja to him. It had been Iruka sensei's head protector, and Naruto had treasured it a lot...  
  
He sat there on the box well after the sun went down. Without a place to go, Naruto decided to wander the deserted night streets a little. Perhaps he could find some place warm enough to sleep. With all the homeless people lying around though, he figured all the good spots were already taken.  
  
"Jeez, Mikey, don't cha know those fights are rigged."  
  
"Lee'me alone."  
  
Naruto paused as he watched one person dragging someone who seemed to be half drunk out of what appeared to be an abandon warehouse. It was obvious by the light coming through the door as they left, that it was not as abandoned as it seemed. With nothing better to do, and curiosity running wild, Naruto decided to peek into the warehouse. The windows were blocked wither bordered off or covered in some other way, and the door had locked behind the two men who left. Naruto managed to find a crack in one of the walls to peep through. To his surprise, the warehouse was the location of some sort of fenced arena, where people beat each other senseless.  
  
"and yet another poor victim to our mighty champion. Is there nobody else brave enough to stand in the ring against our Current Champion Shikyo? For the sum of 300,000 Yen? Is there..."  
  
Nobody seemed willing, although Naruto hadn't seen it. The man they called Shikyo had all but folded his last opponent in half. He was a huge man, probably eight or nine feet tall, and made purely of muscle. By the rather empty look in his eyes, he wasn't entirely all there either. Not one of the regular fighters who came to these illegal pit matches wanted to tangle with him.  
  
"I will!" A young man said as he materialized from the throng of people. While definitely not a meek person. He still looked like a twig before Shikyo. He wore a plain white training gi probably for Karate or a similar art like Judo neither disciplines seemed likely to help him in his next battle. The smaller man smirked as he watched the large man growl at him and flex his muscles. Out in the crowd bets were being made. The announcer motioned the two fighters to take their positions. People watched in anticipation as the fight started...and ended just as quickly. Shikyo lunged directly for the smaller man, who stepped forward to meet the huge man. The young man hit with enough force to knock Shikyo off his feet and leaving him gasping on the mat.  
  
Jaws dropped.  
  
"Definitely rigged..." Mutters were heard in the crowd.  
  
"Uh...err...would anyone like to challenge our new champion for the prize money?" The announcer asked as four men came to drag Shikyo out of the ring.  
  
"I would!"  
  
People looked up into the rafter in confusion at the twelve year old boy standing there. Some people scoffed, while others jeered. The young man's smirk grew wider as he stared up at the orange ninja. This was all silenced when Naruto jumped down from the rafters and landed safely in the arena at a speed that was too fast for most of the people there to follow. The sudden insults stopped.  
  
"and you are?" The announcer asked nervously.  
  
"Naruto Uzumaki. Future Hokage." Naruto said confidently as he took up a ready stance.  
  
"Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of anything goes martial arts." The young man said as his smirk turned into a smile, "Bring it on."  
  
The battle, if it could be called that, was very one sided. As good as Naruto Uzumaki thought he was. Ranma Saotome who had spent more then half his life training under the insane curriculum his father improvised. Was above and beyond anything Naruto could throw at him in the ways of armed or unarmed combat. Ranma noted the openings in Naruto's style. It was obviously self-taught from watching more experienced people, but the form was surprisingly good. If Naruto's reflexes were better then the gaping holes in his defense would be close to non-existent. They style it was based on, or the way it had been adapted, suggested a highly aggressive approach. Lacking much in basic defense, so Ranma continued to dodge until Naruto left himself wide open before gently counterattacking him. Seeing as how his Taijutsu techniques weren't working, Naruto decided to try a different approach. Ranma wondered what Naruto was doing as he stopped to making gestures with his hands, this left him wide open for attack. However, there was a sudden burst of chi followed by a puff of smoke.  
  
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"  
  
And then Ranma found himself surrounded by a crowd of Naruto's. Ranma blinked as his gaze traveled to each one. He had learned to sense an opponents presence from the same Chinese monks who taught him about Chi. This technique Naruto was using seemed unbelievable. All the Narutos generated their own presence and had their own Chi. All Ranma could understand was that this was a very convincing illusion. Then one of the illusions tried to sweep kick him, and when the foot brushed against the ground, Ranma realized just how real these things were. The better part of ten minutes was spent dodging the clones, much to the amazement of Naruto and the audience. Despite five Naruto's attack simultaneously, Ranma seemed to weave in and out of the melee without taking a single hit. His body always being just out of reach of any attack. Naruto gasped, his best technique having failed. When in doubt gamble...  
  
"Sexy no Jutsu!"  
  
Ranma blinked as Naruto suddenly turned into a girl. He blinked again. This caught him so much off guard that he failed to notice that the was still surrounded by four other Naruto's, who promptly attacked him. It was the only hit that Naruto scored that night, as Ranma quickly recovered and dispatched the bunshins as well as knocking out Naruto with quick well placed blows. Ranma was serriously, impressed with Naruto. His Chi control was amazing, and...Ranma blinked. Naruto had turned into a naked girl. An embarrassed flush crossed his cheeks, and he quickly scooped up the boy when the drooling audience (some with nosebleeds) began making catcalls.  
  
"Ranma! Did you get the prize money?" Genma asked appearing out of a dark alley as Ranma exited the building. The happy expression on the lazy martial artist quickly fell when he noticed the boy slung over his son's shoulder.  
  
"What sort of prize is that?" Genma asked blankly.  
  
"Ugh, what hit me?" Naruto mumbled as he slowly regained consciousness. Ranma blinked, he could have sworn that blow would have kept Naruto out longer then that. Ranma set him down on his feet.  
  
"Sorry 'bout that." Ranma smirked.  
  
"Oh...OH! Hey, you're really good! How do you move like that!" Naruto asked.  
  
"Lot's and lots of training." Ranma smirked.  
  
"Uh...uh...I know this sounds kind of bad, but could I borrow some of that prize money? I'm sort of stranded." Naruto said quickly.  
  
"Yes, boy where's the prize money?" Genma asked.  
  
"Who's this?" Naruto asked eyeing Genma cautiously.  
  
"This is my pop." Ranma explained as he scratched the back of his head. He didn't want to mention that in his haste he had forgotten to claim his prize money.  
  
Naruto blinked as he looked at the overweight, bald, spectacled, elder Saotome, and the younger Saotome who he had just fought with.  
  
"Oh, ah...so did you adopt Ranma?" Naruto asked Genma.  
  
"You insolent BRAT!" Genma roared and chased after Naruto, who proved to be an elusive target.

* * *

Cue End of Flashback Sequence.

* * *

Naruto chuckled to himself and wondered what he would have done if he hadn't run into the Saotome's that night. After much pleading, he finally got Ranma to train him a little. In exchange he was teaching Ranma about Chakra, A task which proved to be surprising difficult. Chakra was made up of two inner energies. The body's energy and spiritual energy. While Ranma had a firm grasp on body energy, which he called Chi. His views on chi confused his understanding of spiritual energy, as in many cases Chi could also be used to enhance the mind. Since the brain was technically still a part of the human body, Chi could be used to enhance the mind and could be seen as being similar to a type of mental energy, but It wasn't the same as using spiritual energy, and Naruto wasn't sure how to explain this to Ranma. So for the past three weeks he had been working with Ranma on overcoming that particular hurdle, while Ranma trained him in improving his Taijutsu. To say the last three weeks hadn't been interesting would have been an understatement. After all, hanging around with Ranma was...interesting. Naruto smirked as he looked over to where the teen in question was beating the stuffing out of a giant panda who was waving signs about in a futile effort to get Ranma to stop. He wondered what Genma did to deserve this, but reasoned he deserved it. He decided he'd ask later and returned to watching the clouds.  
  
Ranma Saotome wasn't really sure if he was happy with his father, or indescribably furious at him. Pops had wanted to take a side trip before meeting up with his old friend. It wasn't until later that Ranma found out the reason for this trip was to file paperwork that made Naruto legally a part of the Saotome clan. This was only problematic because the reason Genma did this was so he could engage both Ranma and Naruto to two of his friend's daughters who they were currently on the way to visit. It was times like this that Ranma really wished he hadn't been so curious about Chakra, because Naruto was more often then not dragged into a mess he shouldn't have had to deal with. Ranma could have lived with if it had it only been his problem, but he didn't like to be the direct or indirect cause to other people's problems. (Somewhere in the world a boy with too many yellow and black bandanas and fangs sneezed and blamed it on Ranma Saotome.) Naruto was a good kid, and he seemed to have a lot of problems of his own even before he met Ranma. Some of the stuff that Ranma had ended up dealing with in the past three weeks had only added to Naruto's growing list of problems...

* * *

Cue yet another flashback sequence

* * *

"Oh no is very bad if you fall in!" The guide yelled frantically waving his arms about in hopes of getting their attention. Naruto was perched on one of the Bamboo poles away from the fight, as Ranma and Genma had an all out free for all above the cursed spring of Jusenkyo. This fight ended when a high arching kick brought down on Genma's head sent him belly flopping deep into the pools below.  
  
"That it, pop?"  
  
"Oh....." The guide wined anxiously. As a giant black and white blur popped out of the spring that Genma had fallen into. Ranma blinked as he stared at the giant panda now perched in a crane stance on a nearby bamboo pole. The sight would have been comical, if Ranma hadn't noticed the fact the panda was wearing his father's training gi...  
  
"That is spring of drown panda! There is very very tragic legend of panda who drown here two thousand years ago. Now whoever fall into spring take body of panda." The guide explained a bit too late, as the panda leapt at Ranma.  
  
"Aaaack!" Naruto yelped as he leapt down to dry land. There was no way he was going to fall into one of these springs.  
  
"You never said anything about..." Ranma began, but he was too distracted yelling at the guide to dodge the panda's much larger then fist sized paw. He was smacked soundly into a nearby spring.  
  
"Ranma!" Naruto yelled as he quickly made his way over to the cursed spring Ranma had fallen into. Unfortunately for him, in his haste he failed to notice his pants leg get caught on a bamboo pole. The fabric was strong enough to resist being torn too much, but that was more then enough to bring Naruto's momentum to a halt in midair, right above one of the cursed pools. Flailing his arms about wildly, Naruto failed to catch anything that might have prevented him from landing in the pool with a gigantic splash. Ranma surfaced in time to see, and hurriedly pulled himself, now herself, out of the water. Ignoring the new weight on the front of his body, and his sudden drop in height, he ran over to the spring and peered into the water. There was no way he was going to touch that water, he sure hoped Naruto was okay. Ranma was on the verge of ripping out one of the bamboo poles to use to fish the water for Naruto, when a small dog like creature managed to claw its way onto the muddy bank. Ranma scooped it up without thinking.  
  
"You fall in spring of young girl. There is very tragic legend of girl who drown there one thousand five hundread years ago. The other one fall in spring of drown fox.... Not so sure if legend tragic or not, more then likely is, of fox that drown in spring nine hundread years ago."  
  
"Some great idea this was." Ranma growled as he checked to see if Naruto was still breathing. To his great relief he was, "Is there anyway to fix this?"  
  
"No known cure. But! Hot water reverse curse temporarily. Change back again with cold water though." The guide explained producing a kettle out of nowhere and pouring it on top of the two youths.  
  
"Okay, I suppose that isn't so bad..." Ranma blinked.  
  
Of course the unexplainable mysteries of the universe kicked in at that moment, as it choose that moment in time to have a sudden torrential downpour across the entire valley, a rare event in Jusenkyo due to its magical nature. Since heavy rain would risk flooding the springs. It lasted no more then 2.3 seconds. Ranma's eye twitched as he found himself a she again. It was probably then that Ranma decided he hated his curse, however there was another problem. Naruto seemed to be in a daze. He wasn't talking, and he wasn't moving. Genma would have left him behind if it weren't for the fact that Ranma had no trouble carry Naruto in either form. Currently, Ranma was carrying a human Naruto piggy back style. Considering the way it choose to rain while they were at Jusenkyo, he doubted this would last very long.  
  
"Come on...what's wrong?" Ranma asked as they headed towards a nearby village. Naruto didn't say anything as he stared blankly at nothing in particular.  
  
"Come on! Talk to me." Ranma frowned. He had never seen Naruto this quiet before.  
  
"I spent all my life wondering why people in the village hated me. I thought it was because I was just another orphan, but then I found it was because I was connected with a fox demon that attacked the village. I've never even seen the demon before, I doubt it looks anything like what I turn into now, but when I go back home...they're going to see it. Even if it's not the same thing...what will they think? What will they say?" Naurto said talking to no one in particular.  
  
Ranma continued on in silence. That was a surprise. He hadn't heard Naruto talk about this side of his childhood before. He talked a lot about his two friends Sasuke and Sakura a lot, and sometimes pranks he played when he was younger.  
  
"I've been on the road with my old man for as long as I can remember, always moving from place to place training with pop. I can't even remember what my mom looked like, I kind of wonder what happened to her, but whenever I try to talk about her pops always changes the subject. I didn't really get a chance to make much friends, and nobody wanted their children to be friends with a martial arts bum anyway, especially one like pop. Still, I did have a friend a long time ago. We'd play together everyday, but then we had to leave and I had to say good bye. I haven't had much luck convincing people I'm not like my father, and then you came along. I still remember the first thing you told my father back on that pier when I introduced him to you. The point is there will be people in your life who will like you for who you are. Not because of what people think you are like." Ranma grinned as they continued along. Before Ranma could say something to ruin the rather profound moment, he managed to walk into the rising mist of a waterfall they were passing.  
  
"Damn it!" A pissed off red head growled as a small red fox rolled off her making sounds akin to giggling.

* * *

Cue end of flashback

* * *

"If only Jusenkyo had been the end of it..." Ranma thought as he watched Naruto shuffle through his pack in search of his umbrella. After Jusenkyo they had come across a village of Chinese amazons, one was currently trying to kill Ranma, and claimed to want to make pelt trophies out of her panda and fox pets. So they spent a lot of time running from her. One fine day in china last week, Naruto had mistaken a bowl of soup for ramen and had finished it off with a speed that not even Genma was capable of. The fact that this soup caused hair to grow at a phenomenal rate turned out to be a rather nasty hair raising problem. As a result Naruto now sported a short ponytail that was tied with something special to seal the effects of the soup and prevent the hair from growing. He had tried to braid it like Ranma's but found it too difficult and just let it hang loose. Then there was the numerous things Genma pissed off on a daily basis, merchants, shopkeepers, fisherman, demons, ferryman, ancestral guardians, gamblers, bartenders, dragons, farmers, wild animals, children, and god knows what else. All of which eventually came back and made Ranma and Naruto's life more complicated. Still, Naruto took it all in stride, and seemed to enjoy the adventure. Wait... Naruto was looking for his umbrella?  
  
Ranma cursed and rushed for his pack, but was drenched by a sudden downpour feet from it Ranma mentally chided himself, less mental reflection more action. Like most sudden downpours, it stopped only after Ranma had given up trying to get an umbrella out. Ranma sighed, and shook water off his pack while Naruto put his umbrella away. They waited for the incredibly lazy panda to come around before setting off once again for the Tendo dojo.   
  
"Wow...this village is huge!" Naruto gasped as he looked around in disbelief. They were roof hopping their way to Nerima, but as far as Naruto could see there were only buildings. Not even Konoha was this big...  
  
"Welcome to Tokyo, although Nerima is pretty much on the edge of Tokyo. The main part of the city is over there where all those big buildings are."  
  
"Those are buildings!?" Naruto asked in disbelief. He thought there were some sort of ornate mountains in the distance. They were too tall to be buildings....weren't they?  
  
"Yeah, maybe one day we can go visit the city, but there's something I think you should know." Ranma frowned.  
  
"What's that? Is this what you were fighting about earlier?" Naruto asked as they continued to leap from rooftop to rooftop.  
  
"Yeah... well you see, the reason my pop wanted to make that stop was to mail some papers. He ...uh... adopted you into our family." Ranma explained.  
  
"Really?" Naruto blinked, then his expression brightened considerably, "REALLY!? Cool! Wait...then...why? Was that the reason you were you beating him up?"  
  
"No...well yes...he did it so he can say you're a part of the family and marry you to one of his friends daughters we're going to go meet." Ranma explained.  
  
"WHAT!?"  
  
Genma sensed approaching doom. It was one of those senses ingrained into his reflexes by constant training under ... the evil that must remained unmentioned and hopefully sealed deep, deep, deep in the earth. His son must have told that brat the plan, and no doubt like the role model he idolized, the brat would copy his ungrateful son and beat the crap out of him too. Genma sighed, and turned around to face his punishment. To his surprise, neither were there. 

'Those two, ungrateful brats...' Read the sign that the panda turned Genma had pulled out. Before he sighed and chased after them.

* * *

Closing Author Notes: If you choose to be picky and complain about me using Chi instead of Ki, there really isn't that much differance in the two concepts. I believe there are slight differance in the exact theories, but Ki is the Japanese interpretation of Chi. I see a lot of people who say it's Ki in the fan fic domain. I also see Chi being swapped about in place of it in translations. Since they're basically the same energies. You may refer to it however you like, I choose Chi, because Ranma tends to have a lot of chineese motifs. Til, next chapter. 


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: Mmm... Well....hmmm....Updatedness. The whole Itachi flashback in the manga threw me off. If anyone can guess, I like the concept of the Sharingan, and my other story's future plot was seriously thrown out of whack with that. I've been trying to re-write it to reflect this new information on the mange Sharingan, but it's really a lost cause. I need to change too much... One of the hazards of writing a fic on a series that isn't complete yet I suppose. So until I figure out a new plot for it, I guess I'm going to focus on this one for a while. Enjoy.

Other Additional note: This chapter is much longer then I usually write chapters because I planned on making it two separate chapters, but the second was a bit short to leave as a different chapter.

Chapter 2: First impressions

"Saotome!? I'm so glad to see you! Wait...where is your son?" Soun blinked as he looked around in surprise. Genma had arrived alone.

"There's been , Tendo." Genma admitted.

It wasn't until much later that Genma Saotome managed to explain what had happened. Apparently his son had run off upon finding out about the engagement, and Genma lost them due to a slight mishap which sprained his leg. What he left out was the almost two dozen Bunshins that ambushed him to prevent him from catching up to his escaping sons, and spraining his leg after kicking one of them hadn't helped. Still, it didn't change the fact that his two sons were currently wandering the streets of Tokyo out of his reach with his bad leg. Tomorrow he'd visit the Tendo's doctor, and after his leg was back in order he and Tendo would round up the missing youths. After all, how far could they go? With Naruto's curse they wouldn't risk swimming back across the ocean, he had barely made it last time. With no money they couldn't afford any other means off of this island. So where could they possibly go?

Elsewhere

"Where the hell are we going?" Naruto asked as they spent the last of their money on train tickets. He had wanted to get another bowl of Ramen, and he figured they could roof hop anywhere they needed to go anyway.

"I have a...friend, outside of Tokyo. If pops is looking for us, he won't think to search for us outside the city limits for a while and this friend lives almost 500 miles from Tokyo. It'll take Genma months to find us. I can get a job, we can get enough money to get out of this country, back to china and find ourselves a cure, and then we can find a way to get you home. Heck who knows. If this Kakashi sensei of yours is as good as you say. I might just like it there too."

"Really?"

"Really, come on."

Tendo Dojo

"So what do you think about all of this." Nabiki asked curiously. As she silently looked over the picture of Ranma and Naruto that Genma happened to be carrying. She made a note to pull a few strings and see if she could locate them before Genma, so she could have a talk with them in private. There were a few things about Genma Saotome's story that didn't add up, but outside of that she was certain it wasn't a big deal. All that was required was that one of them marries one of the Saotome's. If push came to shove, then Nabiki knew she could volunteer to be Naruto's fiancé since he couldn't get legally married until he was about Ranma's age anyway, by then she was certain she would have figured a way of escaping it.

"Hmmph, boys." Akane muttered as if not caring. By the amount of violence she was administering to her poor training dummy, Nabiki guessed that it was the only thing preventing Akane from being in an explosive rage.

"Still he is sort of cute." Nabiki grinned.

"Whatever."

"Akane, Nabiki, Dinner." Kasumi called.

"Hey, Kasumi, what do you think of the engagement."

"Hmm, I think they're both a little too young for me, but it's still early to decide such things. We haven't even met them, yet." Kasumi smiled.

Akane frowned. It was impossible for her to say no to Kasumi. Not even Nabiki could manage to say no to her. If she turned down both of them as possible engagements, then there was no doubt that she would end up engaged to at least one of them. Her next blow caused the battered dummy to go flying through the training hall's wall and into the backyard. Nabiki would have chided her sister's behavior, but since the dummy was embedded in the compound wall, and her sister no longer had anything to vent her frustration on. Nabiki wisely decided to remain quiet about it, and added the damages to her sisters growing list of damages since learning of the engagement.

Nabiki silently looked at the picture again. It showed Ranma and Naruto sitting next to a campfire with Naruto apparently trying to explain something to Ranma. Ranma looked a bit confused by the figures in the dirt, which only helped reinforce Nabiki's opinion that he was probably a dumb jock. After all, what sort of education could have growing up on the road for more then ten years? After a while Nabiki wondered herself what any of the symbols in the dirt meant. Even though it was hard to tell what they were, the one's she could clearly make out didn't make any sense to her either. Nabiki filed it away for later as she went to get dinner.

Dinner was okay, if it weren't for the fact Genma had nabbed food out from under each of the Tendo's but it wasn't all that much of a problem since Kasumi, who had been expecting more people had prepared a lot of food. Her reaction to the fact that all the food disappeared was a typical 'oh my' and she mentally noted to prepare even more food once Ranma and Naruto arrived. Genma and Soun settled themselves on a game of Shogi after dinner and the girls went about doing their own things. Akane, who no longer had a dummy to vent on, decided a bath was the best thing for now.

The bath was cleansing in more ways then one, as she took the time to reflect on the engagement. Genma Saotome had passed a lot of pics of Ranma and Naruto around. She wasn't quite sure why Nabiki had decided to keep the picture she had been carrying around since it wasn't a particularly good picture, but it was obvious that both boys were somewhat skilled in martial arts. As most of the pictures were of them sparring with each other, Nabiki said a lot of the pictures looked doctored as normal people, martial artists or not, simply couldn't do some of the things that Ranma and Naruto were seen doing in the pictures. Then again, the Saotome's were clearly not normal people. Things like shape changing Chinese curses didn't happen to normal people.

"Hmm...:" Akane wondered about a lot of things as she sat in the bath. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost failed to notice the door to the furo open.

'Oh....excuse me...' the panda's sign read.

Any anger that had possibly been diffused by the bath instantly reappeared.

"Pervert!"

Kasumi blinked as she watched the Panda disappear into the horizon. Things were certainly going to be different in the Tendo house hold from now on. This was going to lead to big changes in her normal routine...

"Oh my..."

Approximately 540 Miles West of Tokyo.

The two 'wayward sons' were walking silently through a mountain path just outside Kurashiki.

"So...what's this friend of yours like?" Naruto asked.

"He's a nice guy. He said if I ever got away from my pop I would always be welcome at his place. So I think we'll take him up on the offer...for now. We're not going to freeload like pops, so I expect you to do a little work to, probably clean the shrine he lives at or something. Nothing serious, think of it like a long term D rank mission. Even though he was really old, I could tell he was a lot better then my pops was at martial arts. I was ten at the time, but he would always sneak up on me. I'm pretty sure, he couldn't do it now, but not even pops was that goo..."

"Ranma Saotome?"

Katsuhito watched the young woman in front of him jump several feet in the air, and land in a ready position he had become rapidly familiar with. It was indeed, Ranma Saotome. Although, if memory served him correctly, Ranma had been a boy when he had shown up at the Masaki shrine the first time, he could assume that the hair was a dye job but there was something off about her aura now that indicated it was more then a case of mistaken identity.

"Jusenkyo?" He asked the surprised martial artist.

"How did...?"

"No doubt your father's idea." Katsuhito groaned as his suspicion was confirmed, "And who's this?"

"Naruto, he's err...my brother, adopted. We needed to get away from pops for a bit."

"I heard. Well, I did say you could stay at the shrine as long as you liked. It has been a bit...crowded recently. A few of Tenchi's...friends have decided to stay with him for an extended period of time. As long as you don't mind that particular discomfort, there should not be much of a problem. With you around, to do some of Tenchi's chores, he can have more time with them."

"Uh...sure." Ranma nodded.

"This way then,"

The residents of the Masaki shrine were an odd bunch. It wasn't the hair color, their unusual way of dress, or the strange quirks about their auras that bothered Naruto. He had come across these before and neither he nor Ranma were particularly shocked. What was so odd about them was the strange feeling that passed over them as they watched all the girls in the house fight over the single guy.

"I'm glad I'm not him." Ranma whispered shortly before they exchanged introductions.

Two Weeks Later...

The search for Ranma was growing more and more desperate as the days wore on. Genma's foot had recovered in less then a week, and he and Soun had been combing every inch of Tokyo in search of them. Nabiki knew they weren't anywhere in Tokyo by the end of the first week. Her connections had already thoroughly checked every possible lead within the city and had turned up nothing. That was nowhere near as confusing as the drawings that had been depicted in the photo. Seeing as how they were martial artists, Nabiki had been passing the symbols around and hadn't turned up much. Curiously enough, one person had identified the strange leaf like drawing that Naruto had scratched out. According to him it belonged to some notorious assassin group that was incredibly secretive. Other then that information about the group was sketchy at best. The stories seemed almost like fairy tales in many cases. It was also apparent that while Genma Saotome was a sneak, a coward, and worse. He was not a killer. At some point under everything else that he was, he had some standards. He also expected that his son would probably have the same, if not higher standards. So it eluded her as to what the connection was between the Saotome's and what was apparently a mythical group of assassins. The only way she'd ever get any answers would be to ask them directly about it, but that wasn't possible.

"Oof."

"Sorry, here you dropped this."

Nabiki wordlessly accepted her book bag from the twelve year old ninja whose face she had come to recognize from the single picture she had. There was no doubt about his identity, as he was even dressed in the same orange jacket and pants that he had been wearing in the picture. Standing next to him was his brother Ranma, who looked even better in person then he had in the picture. Thoughts she had never had before floated through her mind as she stared at him dreamily. She would have drooled, but she had learned to reign in her emotions better then that, Nabiki didn't believe in chance occurrences, and random happenings. Nothing was ever this convenient unless you arranged it to be, but she simply accepted her books wordlessly, and smiled.

"Thanks."

"Come on, we don't have all day." Another person snapped.

Nabiki silently looked pass Ranma, there was another twelve year old with long red hair that went in various directions standing behind him. Actually it looked as if she had a hairy crab on her head. It gave Nabiki the impression she was some sort of mad scientist, which wasn't too far from the truth. She certainly didn't carry herself like any kid should either. Apparently, the little scientist had caught her staring and shot her a glare as if she was capable of reading her thoughts, and then went back to scolding Ranma.

"Yeah, yeah, coming Washu-chan. I don't see why you were so interested in coming with us." Ranma sighed.

"You know why, I think it's a crime a mother should be separated from her child for so long. It's not like I'm needed at the shrine every waking moment...well as long as Mihoshi's not around that is. Besides, once I finish setting up the doorway, you can come visit us anytime you like." Washu smiled.

"Well..." Ranma began.

"Good, now no complaining. Consider it a favor for being two of my favorite guinea pigs...you both will still come and visit me? Right?" Washu asked.

"Of course we will!" Naruto grinned as they walked away. By the look on Ranma's face he had a reaction that was similar to if someone had asked Nabiki if she wanted more of Akane's cooking. Nabiki silently tailed the trio through the streets of Nerima. She simply couldn't believe her luck, and curiously wondered who the red head was. It didn't take long before she even got a demonstration of their curses to confirm their identity as a little old lady accidentally splashed them. Ranma muttered darkly as he just as suddenly changed back. Nabiki blinked at the sight as Naruto also changed back, and redressed himself at the same speed that their freeloading panda guest did, which was almost instantaneous. Ranma grumbled darkly as he wrung excess water out of his clothes, Washu chided him merrily as she waved what looked like a water gun at him. Nabiki couldn't hear either exchange since she was too far away. Eventually the group stopped, in front of a house and went up to the front door and knocked. A middle aged woman eventually opened the door. After some explanations were made she warmly invited them into the house. Nabiki made a note of the address and headed home for the day. She wondered curiously how much profit she could make off of this.

The last thing Nodoka Saotome expected when she answered the door was to find her long lost son on the doorstep. She was even happier that his father was not with him either. Still, she contained both her surprise and excitement as she examined the trio in front of her.

"Ranma?" She said hopefully, praying this wasn't just a dream.

"Yes, mom, I'm home." Ranma nodded. Nodoka was overjoyed, Ranma had turned out to be even better then she imagined. The two hugged. She wished that it wouldn't end, but then it had to end eventually. Her attention shifted to the young ninja in orange next to her long lost son. That had to have been Naruto, her lost husband had written to her about finding the stranded Ninja and taking him. She had also recently cosigned his adoption papers that Genma had sent not to long ago. Naruto shifted nervously under Nodoka's attention.

"You must be Naruto, it's nice to finally meet you...son." Nodoka smiled as she welcomed both in her house. Her attention shifted to her last guest with a fair amount of curiosity. Genma had never spoken anything about picking up a girl in her travels, and Nodoka could tell that this wasn't an ordinary girl by the way she carried herself, and wondered just who she was and why she had shown up with her sons.

"You must be wondering who I am. I am Washu, the greatest scientific mind in the universe." Washu grinned before breaking out into a small laugh. She quickly composed herself, and gestured towards Ranma, "Your children, happened to come by our place, and told us their stories. I just so happened to be curious about you, and so was Ranma. So we looked you up, and here we are."

"So you helped them, find me?" Nodoka asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I di-gak!" Washu gasped as Nodoka threw her arms around her and practically choked her to death. The woman had a grip stronger the Misaki if that were possible. Between Washu gasping for air and Nodoka showering her thanks upon her, nobody could make out anything said between the two. With great effort, and a lot of coaxing from Ranma, they finally managed to get Nodoka to let go. Of course she once again turned her attention on Ranma and began to cry at how happy she was to have him home, but that was a small sacrifice Ranma was willing to make so that Washu wasn't glaring darkly at him anymore. Of course the small problem of Nodoka's water works triggered another problem.

Nodoka, suddenly let go of her son, now daughter, and held her at arms length. Ranma sighed, as Nodoka stared at her in confusion. Nodoka thought a lot of things. If this was some sort of joke it was a very bad one. She wanted to ask, wanted to confirm what she suspected, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. So her mouth moved, but no words came out as she tried everything to convey how she felt, she finally settled on asking,

"Ranma?"

"...It's a long story, mom." Ranma sighed.

Nodoka took the news that her son was now her daughter rather well. She didn't even faint. As if in a daze, she slowly put her estranged son...daughter down and silently escorted them to the living room. Picking up a carefully wrapped bundle she set it aside as she went to the kitchen to prepare some tea. She silently brought it back to them and served it without a word. She sat down without taking her eyes off Ranma as she once again picked up her carefully wrapped bundle and made herself comfortable.

"I'm listening."

It took a little more then an hour for Ranma to explain Jusenkyo, and how it worked to his mother. Washu even gave a complete technical explanation of the process which no one could understand. It took the rest of the afternoon to fill Nodoka in on the training trip and the years of Ranma's life that she had missed. Ranma told the whole story without once wondering about the blank look that sat on her mothers face the entire time. Naruto on the other hand was bored. He had this story before, as Ranma had needed to explain a lot of things while they were with the Masaki's chief among them was why Ranma ran screaming every time Ryo-Ohki meowed. The story only verified Naruto's opinion that Ranma was somehow adopted, as Ranma couldn't possibly be related to Genma...

"I was afraid your father would do something like this." Nodoka sighed as she shook her head in disbelief as the story ended. "Now I have some things you should find out about now to avoid any future misunderstandings. The first of which is this."

With that Nodoka produced an aged sheet of paper which was covered in hand prints, and looked to be almost as old, if not older then Naruto was. Ranma blinked as he took the paper and read it silently. He blanched as he saw what was written there and wordlessly put the paper down. Washu glanced over at the paper, and her eyes widened in surprised as she read it as well. The look of shock and object horror on Washu's face made Naruto curious enough to look at it was well. It was the sort of look of she got whenever Mihoshi was around. He too looked at the seppuku pledge, and paled when he saw it as well.

"Now, before you jump to any conclusions. Ranma, you are my son, and more importantly you are my child. I couldn't care less how you ended up, as long as you were healthy and happy. I'm extremely proud of you. Even more so after hearing all that you went through, this contract was not my idea, but Genma's, and I was...erm...Intoxicated when I agreed to it, and he was already gone by the time I recovered." Nodoka explained.

"Just how drunk were you?" Washu asked.

"About the same as when I married him." Nodoka sighed, "I've sworn off all alcohol since. I would never consciously try to hurt you... much less force you to commit Seppuku."

"Oookay, so why do you carry that Katana around?" Washu asked curiously.

"That is the second issue I wanted to cover. Tokyo is NOT a very safe place. With all the martial artists around here making contests out of anything you can imagine. It's very dangerous to be wandering around without some sort of means to protecting myself. I happen to have an extensive background in armed combat, so please don't concern yourself with the weapons I carry around."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Ranma smirked. On the way here they had passed no more then fifteen contests of martial arts based cooking, racing, hair dressing, ramen eating (which Naruto had wanted to try), bicycling, duck feeding, or some other mundane type of action made sport. Plus there were other things to take into account, like the stories of weird monster running around the Juuban district, the giant monsters that sometimes came by and flattened a few buildings until they were chased off by giant robots, oh and then there were the cats. Ranma couldn't understand how people could live in a city with so many stray cats.

"There...is one last thing, that I think you should all know about." Nodoka said nervously as she undid the bundle, "something, that I don't think Genma was aware about when he married me as well, and concerns your heritage. I had hoped you had not inherited it as well, but seeing your curse...I believe that you have not only inherited it as well, but your talent for it is potentially far greater then mine."

"What could that be?" Ranma asked as Nodoka slowly undid the bundle. She placed the katana aside, and picked out something that had been concealed in the cloth wrapping.

"Naruto, do you recognize what this is?" Nodoka asked as she held out the object for him to see. Naruto's eyed bulged out as he all but shot out of his chair. He landed with his back pressed against the wall as he pointed at it in disbelief. It was a head protector. A ninja head protector, and by the sign carved into the metal band, a head protector that belonged to the hidden village of mist.

"You're a ninja!" Naruto gasped.

"I was a ninja, yes. A long time ago, but I wanted to get away from that life. It was a turbulent time, there was a great war going on between the different ninja villages, and it wasn't a safe place to be. There were those vying for power. Trust was difficult to obtain, because all ninjas have their own agenda. While betrayal ran rampant, there were also those that were hunted, simply for what they were. I, along with many others, was hunted because of this..."

With that, Nodoka made a gesture to the kettle of tea. To the amazed eyes of those present, the tea slowly crept out from the spout and seemed to dance in mid air, suspended by some unknown force. The tea rapidly took the shape of a swan before it suddenly froze into a solid perfectly formed shape of ice that slowly lowered onto the dining room table. Ranma gazed at the ice sculpture in disbelief. Naruto did too, not because he had been amazed by what he had just witnessed, but because he recognized what it meant.

"A bloodline limit..." Naruto said quietly. It was Nodoka's turn to be amazed. She hadn't suspected a ninja his age would recognize it. Especially since the ability had mostly died out after the war.

"Yes, there were people who feared...or were jealous of our powers. Most of us did our best to hide them, but those that couldn't take it anymore escaped. We sought sanctuary with any that would take us. Which is how we met the idealistic forth Hokage of the leaf, he snuck as many of us out of the ninja countries as he could, and we have lived in relative peace since then. I owe my life, and much more to Konoha." Nodoka sighed as painful memories resurfaced. Naruto stared in disbelief. It could not be just any bloodline limit. It HAD to be the same as Haku's... there was too much of a similarity in not only the way it worked but how Haku and Nodoka described how people saw it. He wondered if Haku had been related to her somehow, and a great many thoughts crossed Naruto's mind as he thought back to the fateful day in the wave country.

"So...I inherited this power, what does it do?" Ranma asked as he curiously picked up the ice swan.

"Well, this particular ability is known by a lot of names, water guardian, Reflection of the soul, and the dragon spirit. For one reason or another, water is constantly drawn to us, but I suppose you've already figured this part out." Nodoka smiled as Ranma groaned.

"I am a water magnet." Ranma groaned, his sneaking suspicion verified.

"Yes, dear. With control, comes a natural gift at using anything that requires chakra attuned to the element of water. To the extent that seals are not needed to perform low level skills. At higher levels, there are some very powerful water and ice based Jutsu's that cannot be mastered any other way, but our greatest power is a special type of control that's a bit hard to explain until you've grasped some basic chakra skills. I had hoped that you would never have to learn about this part of your heritage, but that can't be helped now." Nodoka sighed.

"You...you don't have any relatives still in the mist do you?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"No, as far as I know most of my family was executed before I managed to escape to the leaf. There were three clans that possessed the ability. Perhaps you encountered one of them. We all used the abilities differently." Nodoka shrugged. It was obvious Naruto had apparently faced someone with a similar ability before, but Nodoka was certain it couldn't have been anyone she had been related to. True, she never had heard from her sister since she disappeared, but what reason could she possibly have for staying in the country? She was the one that suggested they leave the country before it got worse. Of course then again, she had been showing some interest in that country boy...maybe a little too much interest. Nodoka banished the thoughts from her head.

"Did one of the abilities involve creating mirrors of ice?"

"Hmm... Never heard of that one..." Nodoka said thoughtfully, "That would be an interesting use, I might try that later."

"How very interesting." Washu grinned as she tapped data into her floating holographic computer. This explained what the odd variance in Ranma's genetic pattern was. She'd have to add Nodoka to her list of test subjects. Such a unique genetic ability was something she just had to study.

"Pops once said you were more of the samurai honor sort, I never pictured you as a ninja." Ranma said as he recalled a conversation he had once had with his father, probably the only conversation where Genma had mentioned anything bout his mother.

"Well, I didn't really want anything to do with my old life so I did my best to put it behind me. I changed my name. Considerably changed my appearance....and besides, ninjas are good at pretending to be something they are not. If I wanted to, I could fight like the Samurai I pretend to be," Nodoka smiled, "I will admit, I'm a bit out of practice though."

"How about a bit of a sparring match then? I want to see how good you are." Ranma grinned.

"Is this all he thinks about?" Nodoka blinked.

"Yeah, it is." Naruto nodded, "Do you think you could help me with some Jutsus later...mom?"

Ranma was grinning after his match with Nodoka. Even if Nodoka was out of practice, she was far from inexperienced, and while Ranma had gone up against various weapon masters and had never seen the practical side of weapon use. Nodoka effortlessly kept him at bay with simple well timed swings. Even with an extra blunt practice boken, the weapon was still dangerous in her hands. She swung it with such speed that even he was having trouble dodging. There was not enough of an opening to land one hit against her, and disarming her without a weapon was highly improbable, and when he finally succeeded at that, Nodoka began to demonstrate her mastery of Ninjutsu, which only made Ranma more determined to figure out how to use Chakra then ever before. Something his mother promised she would help him with later. The thought of having so much he could learn open to him was enough to plaster a silly grin on his face for the rest of the night.

"Ah, Washu, was it?" Nodoka asked noticing the genius scientist examining her broom closet.

"Could you please, call me Washu-chan?" Washu smiled sweetly.

"Okay, Washu-chan... what are you doing?"

"I'm installing a special multi-dimensional portal in your broom closet. It basically folds space between here and the exit point. It's a direct link to a shrine in Okayama. It's where I live, and we met Ranma. This way we can visit each other at any time instead of having to take other means of transport to see each other. I've designed it so that the doorway is keyed to your energy signatures, so only you and your family can cross through it. Well except Genma, don't have his, nor do I want ever seem him at the shrine... Oh, and if a blond lady who seems rather clueless comes through. I assure you, I didn't program her in, and I don't know how she does it, but she's perfectly harmless as long as you keep her away from those explosives slips of paper."

"I uh see." Nodoka asked, she understood the idea behind the doorway just find. She had a similar technique her self, but how Washu knew about the exploding notes was beyond her.

"What if I need a broom?"

"Turn the handle this way to go to the Masaki residence, turn the handle this way for a broom. Oh, and you can also turn this here to lock it so no one comes through. If the door is locked on the other side, you'll see a little light here that indicates whether or not it's locked. Anyway, it's been nice talking to you, but I don't want to overstay my welcome, so I'd best be off." Washu smiled as she opened the door.

"Thanks, Washu-chan." Nodoka smiled as she watched the child genius open the door into what appeared another household, but by the looks of it the doorway was...

"Ack!" Washu gasped as she fell forward, and down. Landing on what was apparently not a far wall, but the floor.

"Alright, who put the door on the ceiling!?" Washu yelled to someone outside Nodoka's field of view. Nodoka chuckled as she closed the door. Sure it was strange, but she lived in what was apparently the capital of weirdness, and she had seen stranger. With that taken care of she went to start dinner for her family. She smiled at the thought.

"Why are you so interested in those two anyway?" Katsuhito asked as he and Washu sat in the shrine later.

"Well, it's not every day you come across a genetic anomaly like Ranma. If I figure out how it works, I'm thinking of making something out of a sample of mass to use as a living air conditioner." Washu smirked as she watched the look on the old man's face, "Just kidding, but it's something to do in my free time. Besides, while this may sound odd to you, there's another intruder in my lab that's not Mihoshi. I've been hearing someone in my lab cursing a Ranma Saotome, even though I can never locate him and can't figure out how he's getting into and out of my lab all the time. I know there's someone else there, and well, when a Ranma Saotome shows up. It just makes you wonder doesn't it?"

"What about Naruto?"

"Naruto's...different...." Washu stared silently at the tea cup in her hands as she thought about the subject carefully. Katsuhito frowned, he was positive he was not going to like whatever it was the scientist was about to say.

"Don't tell the others, especially Ranma, but there's something very dangerous about that boy. There's a second entity bound to him much in the same way Sasami and Tsunami are. I have no doubt they'll eventually merge into one."

Katsuhito blinked as Washu closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"The other entity... You'd have to feel its power for yourself Katsuhito, but the readings greatly exceed Ryoko's when she had all three of her gems. It's as close as you can get to the divinity level without actually being a god." Washu whispered as she took a sip of her tea, "and you wouldn't even need a scanner to tell that the power was evil, twisted by an incredible amount of hate..."

"but I didn't detect, any of that from the boy..." Katsuhito blinked.

"I know, and you wouldn't unless you were incredibly sensitive to it. None of my scanners picked it up until I used a very sensitive scanner, and the power nearly fried the poor thing. It implies that the way this bonding process works, the boy is mostly in charge of it. He may not even realize just how much it affects him. If that were to change though, I'm not sure if there's anything on this planet that's powerful enough to stop him." Washu sighed.

"You're joking, surely Tenchi..."

"The power of Jurai, you mean? Energy is still energy. The only difference is how it's applied. This thing could just as easily be backed by another divine level power, maybe even Tokimi...if she isn't already involved somehow. I'm sure you're already painfully aware that Tenchi isn't a match for a fully powered Ryoko with or without his wings. Unless Tsunami directly intervenes, it would be a hard fight for him to win with just three of the wings. Not to mention, Naruto is currently learning Ranma's...unique...art."

"I see your point, so what now? Kill an innocent boy because of..."

"No, we will wait, and pray it does not come to that."


End file.
